Blasting off into ONE!

It is crazy to believe that we have seen our last 1st birthday party in this family?!??! How is it possible that our littest has finally turned one??????

CRAZY! 

So for Lincoln's birthday we had a Rocket Theme party :) I loved it. This time around it was so low key, super easy, and just fun. Kinda like Lincoln, super low key, easy and fun!

We kept the guest list simple and focused on our family, closest friends, and Lincoln's baby buddies.

He loved the excitement of everyone in the house.

Cake smashing took a little warming up to, but once he figured it out he had a blast!

Then add to the fun the excitement of presents and finding toys and snacks buried under tissue paper and he was in heaven!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!! We love you, Lincoln!!!

Just past midnight

The clock just creeped past midnight and we are officially on Nov 2, 2013.....your first birthday! 

Crazy how a year has come and gone since the day you were born. Lincoln, I wish there were words this side of heaven to express how much I love you! 

     

  Happy Birthday Little One!!!! 

Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

What a super fun time celebrating our little hungry caterpillar turning one....wish we could have thrown a super big shindig with everyone we love, but we just couldn't do it this go around....

The big Birthday Boy!!!
Bean's little lady who he adores....Audrey
Papa flying Liam into the balloons. Liam loved waking up to all the balloons in the morning!
Getting ready for the smash cake :) Isn't it adorable?!?
This is kinda cool!
What do you mean use my hands and get dirty???
All he really wanted was to eat the M&Ms and have a spoon :)
The only damage he did.....

Preparing for the party.....

So because Bean's birthday feel on the week of Easter, we pushed back his birthday party to this past weekend. And I am so glad I did because while this was my smallest budget and lowest scale party to throw all the ick I have been going through with Baby #3 I sure was glad for the extra time. Plus, since I had to scale back it was hard to decide who to invite and such. In the end we decided to just do family and his "baby" friends that he sees regularly and "plays" with.

This party, I felt like the theme was perfect.....The Very Hungry Caterpillar! Since Bean spent his first year eating and crawling his way through everything it seemed appropriate :)

I had hopes of getting all the food that was in the book as the lunch menu....but that didn't happen and I was too "sick" to deal with some of them so I opted for Bean's favorite snacks and ordered pizza....it was perfect. To label everything and add decorations I found caterpillar images online and then Photoshoped them into tags to make myself.

Cupcake caterpillars with M&Ms
The chocolate cake was in the book....I even made the caterpillar and all the decorations on it myself. Casie was great and baked and iced the cake for me while I worked on the fondant. (Thanks for the directions Kristin!)
I used pictures of Bean's first year around the house
I took all my primary colors from the book and made a birthday banner and name banner for his chair.
Added a package of balloons and roll of streamer to the ceiling so they would hang down and add color. The large caterpillar on the wall was just 12" circles out of cardstock....

This was probably my favorite part. I just cut out circles for a caterpillar and added a photo of Liam from each month to the body. He loved looking at pictures of himself :)

And we had a copy of the book out for people to sign and say Happy Birthday to him so he can keep it when he's older.

There were a lot of cute ideas online and several other things I wanted to do and get done, but it just didn't happen and it's quite okay. I was super happy how things turned out and Liam had a lot of fun and that is all that matters. I wish I had taken photos of the favors and other things, because there are a few things missing, but so goes my life right now :)

Bean's First Birthday

My mind is still having a hard time wrapping around the fact that I just put to bed my little one year old! I made sure to snuggle in the rocking chair a lot longer tonight. We had a great day together doing the things you love the most :)

Eating a breakfast of Goldfish and bananas

Splashing in the tub....twice in one day nonetheless :)

Riding a moving ride with big brother at the mall.

Dinner at Chick Fil A with family....

(You were reaching for the candle and brownie we had for you, and Grammy quickly grabbed your hand and said "No" which freaked you out and caused you to break into tears....so the next picture isn't great because then you were scared of the candle and cake :/)

You were happy enough to open your present from MJD.....it makes music and lights up, which you LOVE!

And once you got some brownie and ice cream, you recovered :)

Of course I couldn't let the day end without a photo with mama, just the two of us :)

And Big wouldn't let the night be complete without making sure he was part of the ordeal.

Happy First Birthday to my sweet little love. You stole my heart the moment I laid eyes on you. Your early morning arrival one year ago will forever be seared in my heart and mind. Our family is abundantly blessed by your sweet laugh, silly grunts and killer smile. I don't know what it is about you, perhaps you remind me so much of your daddy, but you captured my heart in a most unspeakable way. Each and every day we share together is precious in my heart. You're my little shadow, and I love watching you grow, explore and learn about the world around you. I pray that God grants me a long life to see the man you will become, because I know whatever you do in this life you will do in a mighty way. I will forever be indebted to you for your life has taught me so much, grown me in so many ways, and molded me into such a better person.
Happy to be your Mama